Songs Not Speeches - Lyrics to Live By - Center for Health, Environment & Justice P.O. Box 6806, Falls Church, VA 22040-6806 703-237-2249 ...
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Songs Not Speeches
– Lyrics to Live By
Center for Health, Environment & Justice
P.O. Box 6806, Falls Church, VA 22040-6806
703-237-2249 chej@chej.org www.chej.org
Songs Not Speeches
– Lyrics to Live By
Center for Health, Environment & Justice
May 2015
Copyright 1989, 2015 by Center for
Health, Environment & Justice. All rights
reserved. For Permission to reprint,
please contact CHEJ. Printed in the
U.S.A.
P.O. Box 6806 Falls Church, VA 22040-6806 703-237-2249 chej@chej.org www.chej.orgCenter for Health, Environment & Justice
P.O. Box 6806 Falls Church, VA 22040 Phone: 703.237.2249 Fax: 703.237.8389 www.chej.org
l l l l
Mentoring a Movement
Empowering People
Preventing Harm
About the Center for Health, Environment & Justice
CHEJ mentors the movement to build healthier
communities by empowering people to prevent
the harm caused by chemical and toxic threats.
We accomplish our work by connecting local
community groups to national initiatives
and corporate campaigns. CHEJ works with
communities to empower groups by providing
the tools, strategic vision, and encouragement
they need to advocate for human health and the
prevention of harm.
Following her successful effort to prevent further
harm for families living in contaminated Love Canal,
Lois Gibbs founded CHEJ in 1981 to continue the
journey. To date, CHEJ has assisted over 12,000
groups nationwide. Details on CHEJ’s efforts to
help families and communities prevent harm can
be found on www.chej.org.TOGETHER, WE CAN WIN By Lois Marie Gibbs I learned about the relationship between social justice and the environment as a young housewife at Love Canal. The Love Canal homeowners were perceived as powerless, but after exposing the injustice of the chemical contamination at Love Canal, people acsoss the country responded in the spirit of democracy. This story of the Love Canal struggle is now a piece of American History. It’s an example of how to fight to win that people nationwide are duplicating every day. . The people in this country are crying out for justice once again. Govern- ment and large corporations have been throwing us bones from their table of greed and power for years. And we’ve had enough! Poor, rural and minority communities continue to be the targets for unsafe waste disposal facilities. These toxic facilities are posed as the answer to the cries for jobs and economic development in depressed areas. But they also pose health risks that no one should be asked to bear. It is sad that after so many strong social justice movements, poor and working class people must continue to be victims of an unjust society. It is frustrating to hear over and over of another young black person who died in the street, or a worker killed in the plant, or a woman who just lost her child to poisons in her home. At the same time, I see hope. People are beginning to reach out and organize again. More and more people are getting involved to fight for their rights. These efforts by minorities, poor, homeless, workers and leaders of grassroots environ- mental groups, collectively and individually, will aid us all. We all have a common bond: victimization. And we all have a common goal: justice for all. If you just look at our movement alone, you’ll see men, women, and children organizing for the first time. I can remem- ber back in 1978 when I first became involved in Love Canal, only a handful of people saw the true dimensions of the problems that Love Canal symbolized. Since then, CHEJ has worked with over 12,000 of these groups representing millions of active people. It is these types of grassroots efforts that make America great and bring about change. These efforts are critical for change. Our history has shown us this as far back as the Boston Tea Party. The American people are fighting for their rights. It’s not easy, for as Frederick Douglass said, “He who wants change without struggle is like the farmer who wants crops without plowing.” Social Justice movements are regaining momen- tum. As these movements grow we’ll see more and more protests and demonstrations. As the saying goes, “When the people lead, the leader follows.” People are leading and, yes, we will force our leaders to follow us on the pathway of justice.
WHY A SONGBOOK?
In the history of people struggling for justice, music has always played a key role. In fact, there’s hardly been a successful
movement for social justice that didn’t prominently feature music.
How does music fit into the fight for justice? People have historically used music to:
• Lift their spirits
• Tell their story
• Celebrate
• Mourn
• Poke fun at their opponents
• Teach others
• Keep alive their traditions
• Pray
So, too, we see these roles for music in the Grassroots Environmental Health Movement. And, we’re pleased to present
this Songbook as the evidence that the people in this movement like those in movements that have come before us, have
instinctively felt and used the power of music.
Many of the songs in this book are examples of the classic use of the “Zipper Song.” A “zipper song” is a song whose words
and tune are commonly known, but which has been adapted with new words “zipped in” to tell a new story. The Civil
Rights church hymns became the foundation on which the rich library of music for the Civil Rights Movement was founded.
Even the Movement anthem, “We Shall Overcome,” was adapted from a much older song that was composed for an entirely
different reason.
Other songs in this book are original, both in words and melody. They’re good songs and we reasonably hope that some
future movement will see them, too, as potential “zipper songs” to be adapted for their struggle.
By no means have we captured all the songs that have been circulated through this movement. These are but a few that hit
close to home for CHEJ and that people shared with us. We in turn want to share them with you.
Finally, we’ve included some classic songs of struggle, such as “This Little Light of Mine,” “This Land Is Your Land,” “We Shall
Not Be Moved,” “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” and “Amazing Grace.” They not only speak to what we all feel and believe in
their original form, but also represent a wonderful opportunity for yet more “Zipper Songs.”Table of Contents
pg.
1 Chapter 1. Songs (Alphabetical Order)
ACRES OF DRUMS PYROCHEM
AIN’T GONNA TAKE IT NO MORE RECYLYRICS
AIN’T YOU GOT A RIGHT RENEWABLE RESOURCES
AMAZING GRACE ROLL OUT THE BARRELS
AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL ROLL THE UNION ON
BALLAD OF THE WATTS FARM SAVE THE SUPERFUND
BIO-MEDICAL’S FIREBOX SHE’LL BE COMING ‘ROUND MT. TRASH
BLOWING IN THE WIND MORE
COMMONWEALTH OF TOIL 16 TONS
COUNTRY ROADS, KEEP THEM FREE SOLIDARITY FOREVER
DON’T HOG OUR AIR SOME WHERE OVER THE WASTE DUMP
DON’T THROW YOUR JUNK N MY BACK STEP-BY-STEP
YARD STOP MAKING IT
DON’T WORRY – IT’S CRAPPY STOP WASTE AT THE SOURCE
DOWN AT THE LANDFILL SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT
DOW’S RUSTY BARRELS TALKIN’ TRASH DUMP BLUES
DUPONT, DUPONT THE ATOMIC RIDDLE SONG
ENVIRONMENTAL RAP (E) THE BEST OF ME
GO TRY AND DUMP IT THE DUMP SONG
HARK THE POLITICIANS SELL THE EPA IS ON THE WAY
HOLD THE FORT THE FLOWER SONG
HOME IN THE HILLS THE GREAT SOUTHWEST
HOME OF THE BARGE THE OBJECT OF YOUR AFFECTIONS
I DON’T WANT YOUR TOXICS, MISTER THE TOXIC SHUFFLE
IF I HAD A HAMMER THEY CALL IT THE STATE OF THE ART
INCINERATOR WALTZ THEY’LL FIX IT I’M SURE
KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE THIS DUMP IS YOU DUMP
KEEP YOUR PLANET CLEAN & GREEN THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND
LET’S GIVE A DAMN THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE
LITTLE BARRELS THREE CHEERS FOR SHERRY BANARD
MICHAEL CAN’T ROW TOXIC SMELLS
MR. RUBBISH WANTS A DUMP TOXIC TRUCKS ARE COMING’
NIMBY NATIONAL ANTHEM WASTE WHORE
NO PLACE FOR NUCLEAR WASTE WE ARE SOLDIERS
OH FREEDOM! WE CAN, WE CAN AND WE CAN GET IT
OUR DAY WILL COME DONE
PCB BELLS WE DON’T WANT IT HERE
WE NEED CLEAN UP MONEY RIGHT AWAY
WE WISH YOU SAFE DRINKING WATER
Center for Health, Environment & Justice | Mentoring a Movement, Empowering People, Preventing Harm
P.O. Box 6806 | Falls Church, VA 22040 | Phone: 703.237.2249 | Fax: 703.237.8389 | www.chej.orgTable of Contents (cont’d)
pg.
Chapter 2. Verses
40
ELEGY TO AN AGENCY
FOR THE LOVE OF OUR CHILDREN
GREEN IS CLEAN
WE DEMAND THE RIGHT TO KNOW
Center for Health, Environment & Justice | Mentoring a Movement, Empowering People, Preventing Harm
P.O. Box 6806 | Falls Church, VA 22040 | Phone: 703.237.2249 | Fax: 703.237.8389 | www.chej.orgChapter 1 AIN’T GONNA TAKE IT NO MORE
By: Terry Kelleher (Copyright 1995)
Songs CHORUS
Ain’t gonna take it no more, no more
Ain’t gonna take it no more!
Ain’t gonna take it no more, no more
Ain’t gonna take it no more!
A chemical company came to town
Put in a dump one day
Filled their dump and their pockets too
Then went on their merry way!
CHORUS
The bureaucrats at the EPA
ACRES OF DRUMS Say there’s nothing to fear
Tune: “Acres of Clams” Makes you wonder why they stay away
Adapted by: Chemtones, of Louisa, Kentucky. And never come around here!
CHORUS
I’ve lived all my life in this country
I love every flower and tree If the EPA won’t do its job
I expect to live here ‘til I’m 90 Issuing enough citations
The toxics must go and not me. We sure ain’t gonna hold our breaths
And wait for mass mutations!
Now Pyrochem incorporated says
They’ll keep our environment clean CHORUS
Just whom do they think they are kidding
With their poison and profile machine. Now the leaders of the USA
Who sing the nation’s praises?
Louisa, Kentucky’s a swell town Vote for cuts in clean-up fund
It’s there where we’re taking a stand Instead of needed raises!
Why wait for disasters and meltdowns?
CHORUS
Come fight for your freedom and lands.
We don’t want dumps neither here nor there
They call us hysterical housewives In case you haven’t guessed
Radicals, Commies and bums And the cost of clean up should be paid
But I’d rather have names thrown at me By the ones who made the mess!
Than be buried in acres of drums.
CHORUS
www.chej.org 1 chej@chej.orgSongs Not Speeches – Lyrics to Live By
CHAPTER 1
AIN’T YOU GOT A RIGHT AMAZING GRACE
By: Mike Honey and Terry Kelleher
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
This earth is a treasure That saved a wretch like me.
This treasure’s our right I once was lost, but now am found
But they’re killing the roots Was blind, but now I see.
To the tree of life
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
Ain’t you got a right And Grace my fears relieved
Ain’t you got a right How precious did that grace appear?
Ain’t you got a right The hour I first believed.
To the tree of life
Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares
The children are dying I have already come
Their parents are too ‘Tis grace hath bro’t me safe thus far
Poisons in their food And grace will lead me home.
The companies are swimming in big dollar bills
While the people are dying
From there chemical spills
You can tell Union Carbide
You can tell Hooker, too
All those big corporations
Making money off of you
We’ll fight here in (___)
In Washington too
To clean up the toxics
They must be removed
Cause we’ve got a right…
Tell it to the Congress
They’d better vote right
To side with the people
In the Superfund fight
Cause we got a right…
2 Center for Health, Environment & Justice | Mentoring a Movement, Empowering People, Preventing HarmCHAPTER 1
Songs
AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL BALLAD OF THE WATTS FARM
By: Katherine Lee Bates and Samuel A. Ward Tune: “Tom Dooley” by The Kingston Trio
Adapted by: Lou Zeller
Oh beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain REFRAIN (begin with)
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain I dreamed I was in Wilkes County
America! America! Dreamed I was there last night
God shed His grace on thee Went up to the Watts Farm
And crown thy good with brotherhood And it was glowing bright
From sea to shining sea.
Finley Clay Watts was up there
Oh beautiful for heroes proved Where he could not be seen
In liberating strife Working with radiation
Whom more than self their country loved And poison toluene
And mercy more than life,
America! America! Cover up that trench boys
May God their gold refine? Bury it so long
‘Til all success be noblesse Payday’s due on Friday
And every gain divine Say there’s nothin’ wrong
Oh beautiful for patriot’s dream REFRAIN
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam Courtroom filled with people
Undimmed by human tears Never to know why
America! America! Many of our neighbors
God shed his grace on thee Taken sick and die
And crown they good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea. County blames the Watts Farm
Problems on the state
Paid a lot of money
Left us to our fate
REFRAIN
Water off that mountain
Washes down our stream
Flows on down the river
Poisons all my dreams
Finley Clay Watts is still there
But he cannot be seen
Spreading radiation
And poison toluene
REFRAIN
P.O. Box 6806 | Falls Church, VA 22040 | Phone: 703.237.2249 | Fax: 703.237.8389 | www.chej.org 3Songs Not Speeches – Lyrics to Live By
BIO-MEDICAL’S FIREBOX BLOWING THE WIND
Tune: “Paradise” by John Prine By: Bob Dylan
Adapted by: Lou Zeller
How many roads must a man walk down,
(Chorus) Before you call him a man?
Oh Mama won’t you take me to Mecklenburg County How many seas must a white dove sail,
Down to MatthewsTown and that big old smokestack Before she sleeps in the sand?
Well I’m sorry my son, but your too late in askin’ And how many times must the cannonballs fly,
Bio-Medical’s firebox has turned it all black. Before they’re forever banned?
The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind.
It’s state-of-the-art, said Mr. Guller The answer is blowing in the wind.
DEP regulates with your welfare in mind
Believe me, he said, but it will not hurt you How many years can a mountain exist,
Mr. Barry keeps sayin’, we’re doin’ just fine. Before it is washed to the sea?
How many years can some people exist,
Chorus Before they’re allowed to be free?
How many times can a man turn his head,
The promises made are crafted by liars Pretending he just doesn’t see?
And the best politicians that money can buy The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind.
We call and complain, but they say not to worry The answer is blowing in the wind.
It isn’t so bad to have flames in the sky.
Chorus
So the trucks bring in waste, from NewYork to Georgia
They’ve turned Matthews Town to a city of ash
Now the smokestacks rise high and the fire burns
brightly
But our clean air and water are sold out for cash.
Chorus
The dioxins and furans that greet every sunrise
Are filling our skies with a terrible blight
Mr. Guller gets rich, but our lungs are his landfill
His pockets are lined, and our health sacrificed.
Chorus
We now are all gathered to stop the expansion
Of the poison and smoke and the fear in our eye
We are people united with knowledge and power
We’re determined to close this landfill in the sky.
Chorus
4 Center for Health, Environment & Justice | Mentoring a Movement, Empowering People, Preventing HarmCHAPTER 1
Songs
COMMONWEALTH OF TOIL COUNTRY ROADS, KEEP THEM FREE
By: Ralph Chaplin, 1918 Tune: “Country Roads”
Adapted by: Victoria Fleming/Ken Natco
In the gloom of mighty cities
Mid the roar of whirling wheels Almost Heaven, West Virginia
We are toiling on like chattel slaves of old Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
And our masters hope to keep us Life is old there
Ever thus beneath their heels Older than the trees
And to coin our very life blood into gold. Younger than the mountains
Blowing like a breeze.
CHORUS:
But we have a glowing dream CHORUS
Of how fair the world will seem Country roads, keep them free
When we can live our lives secure and free From toxic loads, it just can’t be
When the earth is owned by labor West Virginia, save Mountain Mama
And there’s joy and peace for all Country roads, keep them free.
In that Commonwealth of Toil that is to be!
Dark and dusky, painted on the sky
They would keep us cowed and beaten By dirt polluters who don’t care if we die
Crinkly meekly at their feet Save West Virginia
Theywouldstandbetweeneachworkerandhisbread Keep her blue skies clear
Shall we yield our lives up to them? Don’t let the profiteers
For bitter crust we eat? Poison all her years.
Shall we only hope for heaven when we’re dead?
CHORUS
CHORUS
I smell the stench
They have laid our lives out for us ‘Cause the chemicals are ruining her
To the utter end of time. The dumpers are all coming here
Shall we stagger on beneath their heavy load? From so far away
Shall we let them live forever Driving down the road
In there gilded halls of crime I remember how it used to be
Withourchildrendoomedtotoilbeneaththeirload? Yesterday, yesterday.
CHORUS
When our cause is all triumphant
And we claim our Mother Earth
And the nightmare of the present fades away
We shall live in love and laughter
We, who now are little worth,
And we’ll not regret the price we had to pay.
CHORUS
P.O. Box 6806 | Falls Church, VA 22040 | Phone: 703.237.2249 | Fax: 703.237.8389 | www.chej.org 5Songs Not Speeches – Lyrics to Live By
DON’T HOG OUR AIR DON’T THROW YOUR JUNK
Tune: “What’s Time to a Hog” by The Dillards IN MY BACK YARD
Adapted by: Lou Zeller Adapted by: Sue of the Kentucky Superfund Singers
Don’t Hog Our Air (NOTE:) This is a three-part round. It It can either
Don’t make clean air we share too foul or rare be done with each group repeating its same part, or
Don’t Hog Our Air. eachgroupcanworkitswaythroughthethreeparts.
Well let me tell you all about Wendell Murphy Part I
Has a lot of hog farms Don’t throw your junk in my back yard,
And ain’t it funny My back yard, my back yard.
That Murphy’s Law Don’t throw your junk in my back yard
Is the law of the land. My back yard’s full.
What’s money to a hog, Part II
What’s a bottom line Leaching into aquifers, aquifers, aquifers.
or a swindle to a swine? Poisoning our aquifers,
Don’t Hog Our Air. When will it stop?
Well Carroll and Murphy and Prestage Inc. Part III
Make a pile of money but the Cape Fear Stinks One drum of slop, two drums of slop, three
Well hell we need drums of slop,
Clean water to drink. Four drums of slop, five drums of slop, six drums of
slop,
What’s a home to a sow Seven drums of slop. Stop!
Is it family farms
Or a corporate factory now
Don’t Hog Our Air.
Well now its time to wake up
And smell the bacon
And regulate the few who’re makin’
The Tarheel State
The place to pig out.
Don’t hog our air
Don’t hog our water
It’s time to make ‘em do what they oughta
Don’t Hog Our Air!
6 Center for Health, Environment & Justice | Mentoring a Movement, Empowering People, Preventing HarmCHAPTER 1
Songs
DON’T WORRY – IT’S CRAPPY You kidding? – big business.
Tune: “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”
Adapted By: Anonymous It’s profit that drives that corporate mind,
If things turn out okay, that’s fine,
Some people say that pollution is bad, You kidding? – Big business.
It’s destroying everything we have.
But don’t worry, be happy. Corporate profit and corporate need,
Corporate greed makes us bleed,
When we’ve got hungry mouths to feed, But don’t worry – big business.
Rain forests are something we don’t need.
Don’t worry, be happy.
Hamburgers came from cows you know,
Rain forests are where the cows can grow,
People kill em, we eat em.
So who cares if the earth gets hot,
A hungry man needs to eat quite a lot.
Just drop it, don’t stop it.
Now let’s talk about pollution at home,
You noticed, our forests are just overgrown,
Don’t stop it, just chop it.
We’ve got some old trees since the indian’s time,
Primeval forests may look sublime,
Don’t stop it, just chop it.
Speaking of Indians, they’re primitive, too
Get em out of here, we hate voodoo
Just move em, don’t groove em.
But we don’t need poisons for our food to grow,
Old time farmers even they know
Get clean food – organic.
Ain’t real farmers here anymore,
Agribusiness got the whole store,
It’s business – big business.
Big, big, big now that’s the best –
Who gives a damn about all the rest,
It’s business – big business.
Do you think that the corporations care,
About your soil, about your air,
P.O. Box 6806 | Falls Church, VA 22040 | Phone: 703.237.2249 | Fax: 703.237.8389 | www.chej.org 7Songs Not Speeches – Lyrics to Live By
DOWN AT THE LANDFILL DOW’S RUSTY BARRELS
Tune: “Down in the Valley” Tune: “John Brown’s Body”
Adapted by: Lance Hills Heyer Point Coalition of Adapted by Beth DeSombre & Tom Hoffman of the
S.W. Spokane County, Cheney, WA. Superfund Singers
Millions of dollars, both yours and mine Dow’s rusty barrels are a mould’ ring in the dump
City officials pour them like wine. Dow’s rusty barrels are a mould’ ring in the dump
Millions for bonds, love Dow’s rusty barrels are a mould’ ring in the dump
Options to buy, And the waste keeps piling up.
Delude the people
Then bleed us dry. Superfund is what is needed
Superfund is what is needed
CHORUS Superfund is what is needed
Just tell them no, love ‘Cause the waste keeps piling up.
Just tell them no
City officials, they learn so slowly Dow’s rusty barrels need to be returned to Dow
They learn so slowly, love The water in my river is no longer fit to drink
They learn so slowly The benzene and the arsenic are slowly killing me
City officials, they learn so slowly. We’re hauling all the toxic waste toWashington, DC.
Down at the landfill
Oh how it grows
Late in the evening
See the ash blow
Out at the airport, into the sky
Plumes from the burner rising so high.
CHORUS
Truck loads of ash, love
Tracking the ground
Spreading dioxins
Around and around.
CHORUS
8 Center for Health, Environment & Justice | Mentoring a Movement, Empowering People, Preventing HarmCHAPTER 1
Songs
DUPONT, DUPONT ENVIRONMENTAL RAP(E)
Tune: “Daisy, Daisy” By: Shelly Nelkens
Adapted by: Kenny Bruno
(NOTE: This song made its debut in a “singing Our ozone layer is so depleted,
briefcase.”That is, a briefcase with a tape deck hid- Do you believe we are defeated? Oh, no.
deninside,atthe1987DupontAnnualShareholders Global warming is bearing down,
meeting in Washington, DC. The singing briefcase Do you want us to wear a frown? Oh, no.
was chained to a shareholder at the time.)
But they say, “Don’t worry, be happy,
Dupont, Dupont It’s all mind over matter.”
Stop making toxic waste Well they say, “Don’t worry, be happy,
Source reduction is the way I don’t mind and you don’t matter.”
No need to incinerate
Landfill is obnoxious Profitable products get tossed away
And burning forms dioxins To turn another profit the very next day.
It’s not too late Addiction to convenience makes necessity
Don’t incinerate Of the good things brought to life
Source reduction of toxic waste. Through electricity. Oh, no.
Dupont, Dupont Corporatemindedmogulsdrillforoilbeneaththesea,
Stop making CFCs Pumping out black gold to politicize eternity.
Chlorine in the stratosphere For a hundred billion dollars up—indemnified
Kills animals people and trees Contractors will try to clean the mess they’ve made of
Ozone holes are forming DOE’S reactors.
While the earth is warming
We know what we want But they say, “Don’t worry, be happy,
We can’t wait for Dupont It’s all mind over matter.’’
To stop making CFCs. Well they say, “Don’t worry, be happy,
I don’t mind and you don’t matter.”
Waste Age thinkers hug the bottom line,
Hey! If people get wasted well, guess that’s fine.
Agripest resistance thrives on each new pesticide
As our chemical dependence promotes infanticide.
Oh, no.
The folly of our days believing all is well.
While progress is developing the earth into a hell.
Pollution dilution is the “Final Solution”
To the advancement of our evolution. Oh, no.
So we say, “Don’t worry, be happy.
It’s all mind over matter.”
We say, “Don’t worry, be happy,
I do mind and you do matter.”
P.O. Box 6806 | Falls Church, VA 22040 | Phone: 703.237.2249 | Fax: 703.237.8389 | www.chej.org 9Songs Not Speeches – Lyrics to Live By
GO TRY AND DUMP IT HARK! THE POLITICIANS SELL
By: Kate Long, West Virginia. Tune: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” by Charles
Wesley
Barney was a trucker, and he drove Route 64, Adapted by: Citizens of Millstone, Clarksburg,
Till the company went under, and Barney worked no New Jersey.
more
Till a guy with lots of money, he said, I got something Hark !the politicians’ sell
funny, They won’t breathe the toxic smell
If you drive it where I tell you, then you won’t be poor Scratch our backs and we’ll scratch yours
no more. Poison water, air and shores,
We don’t care if children die
CHORUS Just don’t catch us in a lie
So go try and dump it when nobody is around Elected officials are who we fear
Pump it all into the river or a hole in the ground Monday talks is what we hear
It might get in your tomatoes, or creep up in your Elected officials are who we fear
potatoes, Money talks are what rings clear.
So don’t dump it near where I live, take it to some
other town.
Don’t go asking any questions, I’m not paying you to
poke,
Don’t tell tales out of the schoolhouse,
If you don’t want your head broke.
It’s not stuff you’d want to swaller, so just take it up
some holler,
And if folks start asking questions, let them see your
tailpipe smoke.
Barney used abandoned mine shafts,
And then once a highway grade,
And each time he saw a vision of the money he had
made.
And to protect his wife Nina, he dumped down in
North Carolina,
But the trucks from North Carolina passed him
going the other way.
10 Center for Health, Environment & Justice | Mentoring a Movement, Empowering People, Preventing HarmCHAPTER 1
Songs
HOLD THE FORT HOME IN THE HILLS
(19TH Century Labor Movement Classic) Tune: “Home on the Range” by Brewster Higley
Adapted by: Pine Creek Headwaters Protection
We meet today in freedom’s cause Group
And raise our banners high!
We’ll all join hands in union strong, Oh give us a home where the garbage won’t roam
To battle or to die. Where it won’t find its way to or streams
Andthepeoplewon’tfearthatthewaterfromwellsis
CHORUS: Hold the fort, for we are coming unclean.
Union folk be strong
Side by side, we battle onward CHORUS
Victory will come! Home, home in the hills
We don’t want a humongous landfill
See our numbers still increasing Phoenix birds have you heard
Hear the bugles blow, Our discouraging word
By our union we shall triumph, Drop your lead somewhere else if you will!
Over every foe!
Please appreciate how our soil percolates
CHORUS For it acts very much like a sieve
If the liner bag busts all the stuff which disgusts
Fierce and long, the battle ranges Will seep into the land where we live.
But we will not fear,
Help will come whene’re it’s needed CHORUS
Cheer, my comrades, cheer!
You’ll not find us naive and we truly believe
CHORUS Even garbage deserves a good home
But these hills are so fine and they’re riddle with
mines
So pollutants are likely to roam.
CHORUS
P.O. Box 6806 | Falls Church, VA 22040 | Phone: 703.237.2249 | Fax: 703.237.8389 | www.chej.org 11Songs Not Speeches – Lyrics to Live By
HOME OF THE BARGE I DON’T WANT YOUR TOXICS, MISTER
Tune: “Home on the Range” by Brewster Higley Tune: “I Don’t Want Your Millions, Mister” by Jim
Adapted by: Victoria Fleming and Ken Natco Garland
By The “Superfund Singers” of KFTC
CHORUS
Home, home of the barge I don’t want your toxics mister
Of every man-awful creation I don’t want your benzene rings
Of landfills and ash All I want is the right to live mister
Incinerators and trash Give me back again my health.
Ohio the dump of it all.
I don’t want your Arsenic mister
O, give me a home I don’t want your poison waste
Where there’s no Styrofoam All I want is health for my babies
Where the beer cans and bottles don’t lay These awful problems must be faced.
Where seldom is seen any polyethylene
And the skies are not smoggy all day. Think me dumb if you wish mister
Turn me green or red or blue
CHORUS
There’s just one thing that I know Mister
O, give us chemical waste You got to take back all your goo.
Our EPA and Governor don’t care
Just trucks it all in We have worked to build this country
Even though it’s a sin While you enjoyed a life of ease
Ohio, the dump of it all. You’ve poisoned all that we built mister
Now our children are diseased.
CHORUS
We’ll organize together mister
Poor, poor Ohio In one big united band
Her politicians don’t care And with a Superfund clean up
The land it is fouled, the water polluted We will win our just demands.
And who will be selling us air?
CHORUS
Get out, Get out GSX,
Waste Management and PPG
Envirosafe isn’t safe
They all wreck our ecology
And so would Ohio Technology.
CHORUS
It’s time to save Ohio
Together we can, right now
Stand up for your State
Before it’s too late
So we won’t be the dumps of it all.
CHORUS
12 Center for Health, Environment & Justice | Mentoring a Movement, Empowering People, Preventing HarmCHAPTER 1
Songs
IF I HAD A HAMMER INCINERATOR WATZ
By: Pete Seeger Tune: “Tennessee Waltz” by Patti Page
Adapted by: Lance Hills, Heyer Point Coalition of
If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the morning S.W. - Spokane County, Cheney WA
I’d hammer in the evening
All over this land I was living with my darlin’ on the land we were
I’d hammer out danger a farmin’
I’d hammer out warning When a long came a mass burner plan
I’d hammer out love between And I know they were a-trying just to fool me
My brothers and my sisters with their lyin’
All over this land. For I knew they’d pollute all my land.
If I had a bell, I’d ring it in the morning I remember the night when we all had to fight
I’d ring it in the evening, And my darlin’ and I wept with pain
All over this land For they’d ruin all our dreams with their dirty little
I’d ring out danger schemes
I’d ring out warning And our loss would be Wheeabrator’s gain.
I’d ring our love between
My brothers and my sisters So we told them to start packin’ and to stop
All over this land. their silly yakin’
For we wanted no part of their plan.
If I had a song, I’d sing it in the morning Now I’m living with my darlin’ on the land we
I’d sing it in the evening, are a farmin’
All over this land And I’m thankful to be free again.
I’d sing our danger
I’d sing out warning
I’d sing out love between
My brothers and my sisters
All over this land.
Now I have hammer, and I have a bell
And I have a song to sing all over this land
It’s the hammer of justice
It’s the bell of freedom
It’s the song about love between
My brothers and my sisters
All over this land.
P.O. Box 6806 | Falls Church, VA 22040 | Phone: 703.237.2249 | Fax: 703.237.8389 | www.chej.org 13Songs Not Speeches – Lyrics to Live By
KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE (PRECAUTION- Stop pre-empting our state laws
ARY) PRIZE Based on supremacy clause
Adapted by: Lou Zeller Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.
Paul and Silas bound in jail We must change WTO
Had no money for to go their bail Or else it’ll just have to go
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on. Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.
Chorus after each verse: Seventh generation shouldn’t have to pay
For what we fail to do today
Hold on, hold on Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.
Keep your eyes on the prize,
Hold on. How much poison can we stand
Take precaution across the land
Paul and Silas began to shout Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.
Jail door opened and they walked out
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.
Freedom’s name is mighty sweet
Soon one day we’re gonna meet
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.
Got my hand on the gospel plow
Wouldn’t take nothin’ for my journey now
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.
The only chain that we can stand
Is that chain of hand in hand
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.
The only thing that we did wrong
Stayed in the wilderness a day too long
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.
But the one thing we did right
Was the day we started to fight
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.
We’re gonna board that big Greyhound
Carryin’ love from town to town
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.
We’re gonna ride for civil rights
We’re gonna ride for both black and white
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.
14 Center for Health, Environment & Justice | Mentoring a Movement, Empowering People, Preventing HarmCHAPTER 1
Songs
KEEP YOUR PLANET CLEAN & GREEN LET’S GIVE A DAMN
By: Cathy Cook (Copyright 1981) By: Andy Shapiro
CHORUS I came back late one day to find
Keep your planet clean and green, We couldn’t stay at home.
Keep my planet clean and green, A gas tank in the ground had
Fresh air, clean streams, are real goals and not just Been leaking all around our home.
dreams Then they told us to return that we
We can keep our planet clean and green. Shouldn’t be concerned but now we know better.
Keep that litter in your hand, The men from A.E.C. said we should
Keep it till you find an old trash can, Wait and see what goes—
When I go walking on the shore, we could wait all our lives
Don’t wanna find you been there before, if we believed their lies I know.
Why can’t we keep our planet clean and green? They said our levels were very low—
That we didn’t have to go
Can’t you stop pumping poisons in the air? But now we know better.
If it makes a profit the man don’t care,
Kills the leaves right off the trees, CHORUS
Can’t imagine what it’s doin’ to you and me. Let’s give a damn about the land we live on.
Why can’t we keep our planet clean and green? Let’s give a damn about the air we breathe.
Let’s give a damn about the water we’re drinking.
Now nuclear power is the latest scheme, Let’s give a damn about humanity.
For protecting that material American dream.
They aim to just ignore our fears, My pregnant wife and son have had their lives be-
But that waste is deadly for thousands of years, come insane.
Why can’t we keep our planet clean and green? The benzene in the air, has caused our lives despair,
we’re drained.
Keep your garbage off my land, The Health Department wouldn’t take a stand,
Don’t want no toxic ash in the piney wetlands, Roberta Coffin shouldn’t lead the band
Recycle and conserve or keep that garbage you de- But now we know better.
serve,
We’re gonna keep this part of the planet clean and
green.
P.O. Box 6806 | Falls Church, VA 22040 | Phone: 703.237.2249 | Fax: 703.237.8389 | www.chej.org 15Songs Not Speeches – Lyrics to Live By
LITTLE BARRELS MICHAEL CAN’T ROW
Tune: “Little Boxes” by Pete Seeger Tune: “Michael Row Boat Ashore”
Adapted by: Nancy Hoffman,Tom and Beth DeSom- Adapted by: Beth DeSombre, Rema Boscov,
bre Tom Hoffman, and Si Kahn, all members of the
Superfund Singers of Kentucky.
Little barrels on the hillside
Little barrels full of chemicals Mike can’t row the boat ashore.
Little barrels on the hillside Toxic Waste dissolved the oars.
And they all leak just the same.
They leak green stuff, they leak red stuff, Michael’s boat is a garbage scow.
And yellow stuff, and purple stuff, Melts in waters destroyed by Dow.
And they’re all full of chemicals
And they all leak just the same. Cuyahoga is a muddy and wide.
Flames are rising from side to side.
And the poison in the barrels
Trickles down into the town below, ( ) River is smelly and cold.
And it gets into the water and the gardens, Rots the body; pollutes the soul.
And the schools.
And the people in the houses, Sister helped to skim the crud.
Get headaches and leukemia, Her finger fell of in the mud.
And the companies continue
Putting barrels on the hill. Michael’s future is in doubt.
Superfund can’t help him out.
Little tombstones on the hillside
Little tombstones springing everywhere
Little tombstones like the barrels
Are dotting the land.
Some for Daddies, some for Mommies,
Some for children and for babies, too.
And they’re buried with barrels
And they all died just the same.
16 Center for Health, Environment & Justice | Mentoring a Movement, Empowering People, Preventing HarmCHAPTER 1
Songs
MR. RUBBISH WANTS A DUMP NIMBY NATIONAL ANTHEM
Tune: “99 Bottles” Tune: “America the Beautiful”
Adapted by: No Dump, Howell, MI. Adaptedby:MiddlesexCountyEnvironmentalCoali-
tion, Old Bridge, NJ.
CHORUS
Oh, Mr. Rubbish wants high point a dump Oh Beautiful, polluted skies
To bury your garbage there. For amber wave of ash,
Don’t you worry, it won’t leak. Incinerators destroy our air
And get in your aquifer. Freeholders must need cash.
If it leaks, you won’t care Our cries for help
The pollution will be small. They go unheard
The solution is dilution And no one seems to care
So you won’t care at all. But all we want
And all we need
CHORUS Is unpolluted air.
Think of all the birds and gulls Dioxins kill
That you and I will see, We all know that
And all those trucks a rumbling Ask a Vietnam Vet
Through the country. But we can beg
And plead and cry
CHORUS We’ll fight till our last breath.
A dump is a place to bury your waste What happened to
To rot for years and years, Our basic right?
The “sanitary” solution We demand they be restored.
To all your garbage fears. This is our country after all.
Let’s recycle forever more!
CHORUS
P.O. Box 6806 | Falls Church, VA 22040 | Phone: 703.237.2249 | Fax: 703.237.8389 | www.chej.org 17Songs Not Speeches – Lyrics to Live By
NO PLACE FOR NUCLEAR WASTE OH FREEDOM!
By: Mike Jenkins (Classic Civil Rights “zipper song”)
A short while ago Oh, freedom. Oh, freedom
Everybody was told Oh, freedom over me
Our state would be offerin’ a place And before I’m be a slave
To endanger our lives, hear everyone cry I’ll be buried in my grave
We won’t take your nuclear waste And go home to my Lord and be free.
REFRAIN No segregation, No segregation
So together we’ll stand No segregation over me
Arm in arm, hand in hand And before I’ll be a slave
With all of the families that would lose their land I’ll be buried in my grave
Let the ones that make it And go home to my Lord and be free.
Keep it at their own place
We won’t take your nuclear waste (Add your own verses)
Say goodbye to your land
It’s outta your hands
They can just take what they need OUR DAY WILL COME
We’ll stand together and fight Tune: “Our day will come” by Ruby & the Roman-
For our land and our right tics
The people will never concede Adaptedby:MiddlesexCountyEnvironmentalCoali-
tion, Old Bridge, NJ.
REFRAIN
Your day will come
We’ll fight for our kids, too young to understand And you’ll have everything
We’ll fight for out families You’ll share the cash
We’ll fight for our land Incineration brings
If you plan to keep peace in this place No one can tell us that we’re too young to die
Stop making that nuclear waste From ash that flies.
But our votes will count.
REFRAIN
18 Center for Health, Environment & Justice | Mentoring a Movement, Empowering People, Preventing HarmCHAPTER 1
Songs
PCB BELLS PYROCHEM
Tune: Jingles Bells Tune: “Open that door” by Ricky Skaggs
Adapted by: Participants of KFTC’S toxics confer- Adapted by: Lawrence County Concerned Citizens
ence in Somerset, Kentucky.
PYROCHEM, PYROCHEM, PYROCHEM
CHORUS Leave us alone
PCBs PCBs, not for us this year This is still Louisa an it’s still our home
Oh what fun it us to live We said we’d keep you out and we’re still pushing on.
Where the land and air is clear PYROCHEM leave us alone!
Clean it up, clean it up,
Clean it all the way PYROCHEM, PYROCHEM, PYROCHEM
Oh what fun it really is Shut your door.
To haul the stuff away. This is our sweet county
We don’t want your waste here.
When Carbide came to town It’s been two years, lets all give a cheer.
They tried to sneak around PYROCHEM shut your door.
But when the folks found out
What it was all about,
We got to work real soon
Before out town was doomed,
There’s no way we’re gonna see
An ounce of PCBs today.
CHORUS
We organized a ban
Against the Carbide plan
And ran them out of town
Dressed up like a clown
From Paducah to Warsaw
We kept them all away
That’s why we are all here
To sing with you today.
CHORUS
P.O. Box 6806 | Falls Church, VA 22040 | Phone: 703.237.2249 | Fax: 703.237.8389 | www.chej.org 19Songs Not Speeches – Lyrics to Live By
RECYCLYRICS Our valley has pollution
Tune: “Battle Hymn of the Republic” Which is cancer in our air
And the politicians know it
Mine eyes have seen the garbage But there are few who even care
This is smoldering the grate So we better stick together
We must stop incineration now And we’ll fight for what is fair
Before it is too late And we must do it NOW!!!
Unless we want the dangers
We had better separate
And we must do it NOW!!! RENEWABLE RESOURCES
Tune: “Freer Jacques”
We don’t want incineration Adapted by: Marjorie Roswell
Don’t give us incineration
We cry out in desperation Sun and windmills, Sun and windmills
We know there’s a better way!!! Waves and trees, waves and trees
Renewable resources, renewable resources
Mine eyes have seen the burning Energy, Energy.
Of the garbage in our town
People build incinerators
While we all just stood around ROLL OUT THE BARRELS
Now they want to regulate them Tune: “Roll out the barrels”
Just to keep our voices down Adapted by: Joe P. Fisher & Nan Hoffman
And we won’t buy it NOW!!!
Roll out the barrels; we’ll have a barrel of fun
The county’s deemed appropriate
Roll out the barrels, expose them to the sun
The burning of our trash
Tell old Monsanto, Dow, Hooker and Union
And the builders and the owners
Carbide
Are just raking in the cash
Roll out the barrels; let’s see what’s inside.
But we citizens believe the move is foolish and
rash
Rolloutthebarrels,there’ssomethingthatyou’dbet-
And we won’t buy it NOW!!!
ter show
We urge our legislators We’re sick of hearing that we have no right to know
To undo what they have done We’reaskingthecorporations,“Whathaveyougotto
And to stop incineration now hide?
Before the harm is done Roll out the barrels; let’s see what inside.
We are here today together
In our strength and unison Roll out the barrels of kepone, arsenic and lead
And we won’t buy it NOW!!! Roll out the barrels; we’re tired of being misled
What’s in the barrels, it is benzene or cyanide?
Though we recognize our landfills Roll out the barrels; let’s see what’s inside.
Are all swelling with the waste
Still it doesn’t justify Roll out the barrels, right up to the Capitol dome
A bad decision made in haste Roll out the barrels; we really don’t need them at
Let us put our heads together home
So the crisis may be faced Take them to the Congress, toxics we cannot abide
We’ve got to do it NOW!!! So roll out the barrels, clean up what’s inside!
20 Center for Health, Environment & Justice | Mentoring a Movement, Empowering People, Preventing HarmCHAPTER 1
Songs
ROLL THE UNION ON SAVE THE SUPERFUND
By: John Handcox Tune: “When Johnny comes marching home”
(Included here in dedication to our friend H. L. Adapted by: Tom Chalkley, MD Citizen Action
Mitchell, founder of the Southern Tenants Farmers (Note: Sing deliberately with a strong march beat)
Union in the 1930’s. Mitch died on August 1, 1989.
John Handcox wrote this song for STFU in the mid- We’re driving down to Washington -
1930’s.) hurrah, hurrah!
To make a tougher Superfund the law, the law!
REFRAIN: Ten billions dollars must be found
We’re gonna roll To clean up poisons underground
We’re gonna roll And we won’t give up till we Save the
We’re gonna roll the Union on Superfund!
We’re gonna roll
We’re gonna roll The folks who run the EPA are lazy slobs
We’re gonna roll the Union on They need a deadline everyday to do their jobs
In Bureaucrats we never trust
If the boss gets in the way A cleanup schedule is a must
We’re gonna roll right over him And we won’t give up ‘till we Save the
We’re gonna roll right over him Superfund!
We’re gonna roll right over him
If the boss gets in the way The poison leaking down below our towns and
We’re gonna roll right over homes
We’re gonna roll the union on! Is causing death and damage to our
chromosomes
REFRAIN So clean it up and make it fair
Tax the ones who put it there!
If the sheriff gets in the way And we won’t give up ‘till we Save the
We’re gonna roll right over him…etc. Superfund!
_____________________________ You Congresswomen, Congressmen, --take
note! Take note!
*For the Grassroots Environmental Movement, Beware your own constituents—We vote! We
substitute movement for union and in the vote!
verses, simply add and adapt whomever it is So you had better be voting too
you’re fighting. Mitch and Mr. Handcox would For the Right to Know and the Right to Sue
want it that way! And we won’t give up ‘till we Save the
Superfund.
P.O. Box 6806 | Falls Church, VA 22040 | Phone: 703.237.2249 | Fax: 703.237.8389 | www.chej.org 21Songs Not Speeches – Lyrics to Live By
SHE’LL BE COMING ‘ROUND MT. TRASH- 16 TONS
MORE By: Margie Roswell
Tune: “She’ll be coming ‘round the mountain”
Adapted by: Citizens Against Rural Exploitation - Come gather round and listen well
Carsonville, MI. A story of recyclin’s, the one that I’ll tell.
Well, paper, you know is nearly half our trash?
CHORUS And here at COPO we can turn it into cash.
She’ll be coming ‘round Mt. Trashmore when she
comes. You load one ton, and what do you get?
She’ll be coming ‘round Mt. Trashmore when she You save $55.00 on the tipping fee debt.
comes Mass burn don’t cha call me ‘cause I can’t go
She’ll be coming ‘round Mt. Trashmore when she I owe my paper to the folks at COPO.
comes.
If the toxic fumes don’t kill her You load two tons, and we can agree
Then the dazzling heights will thrill her. That you’ve saved from a forest
She’ll be coming ‘round Mt. Trashmore when she About 35 trees
comes. Well loggers don’t cha call me ‘cause I can’t go
I owe my paper to the folks at COPO.
Bridgehampton once was just a level stretch of land.
Pioneers who came here made their final stand. You load 8 tons, and who would’ve known
Then Waste Management came in! That you’ve saved enough energy to heat 4 times
What they did here was a sin Power plant don’t call me ‘cause I can’t go
They built Trashmore Mountains on our level I owe my paper to the folks at COPO.
land.
You know loading papers
CHORUS Just a part of the plan
You’ve got to buy recycled paper
We will greet her when she comes ‘round Trash- And use it again
more Mountain. Buy recycled paper, sell recycled paper
She will drink the water from our poison fountain. Play it again Sam, play it again.
We will feed her from a crop
Grown in shade from Trashmore’s top You load 16 tons, and what do you get?
If alive we’ll sing again about Trashmore Mountain. You get community recycling
That we won’t forget
CHORUS Save money, save trees, save energy-o
I’m gonna recycle with the folks at COPO!
Let’s recycle and refrain from building mountains.
Let’sstoppoisoningallourfoodandwaterfountains.
Let’s recycle everything
So we’ll never have to bring
All our trash to build another Trashmore Moun-
tain.
CHORUS
22 Center for Health, Environment & Justice | Mentoring a Movement, Empowering People, Preventing HarmCHAPTER 1
Songs
SOLIDARITY FOREVER CHORUS
By: Ralph Chaplin
In our hands is placed a power
When the Union’s inspiration Greater than their hoarded gold;
Through the worker’s blood shall run; Greater than the might of armies,
There can be no power greater Magnified a thousand-fold.
Anywhere beneath the sun. We can bring to birth a new world
Yet what force on earth is weaker From the ashes of the old.
Than the feeble strength of one? For the Union Makes Us Strong!
But the Union Makes Us Strong!
CHORUS:
Solidarity forever! SOMEWHERE OVER THE WASTE DUMP
Solidarity forever! Tune: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Judy
Solidarity forever! Garland
For the Union Makes Us Strong! Adapted by: KFTC
It is we who plowed the prairies; Somewhere over the waste dump
Built the cities where they trade; Way up high
Dug the mines and built the workshops; Fumes rise over the waste dump
Endless miles of railroad laid. Burning a young child’s eyes.
Now we stand outcast and starving,
Midst the wonders we have made Somewhere barrels are leaking
But the Union Makes Us Strong! Into sand
Toxics poisoning our water
CHORUS Ruining our scared land.
They have taken untold millions Someday I’ll wish upon a star and wake
That they never toiled to earn; Up where the poison’s far behind me.
But without our brain and muscles, Where benzene’s stored in leak-free bins and
Not a single wheel can turn. PCB can’t trickle in to kill us slowly.
We can break their haughty power;
Gain our freedom when we learn Somewhere town folks are saying,
That the Union Makes Strong! “Don’t dump here!”
Clean up all of the waste sites,
CHORUS Children can’t live in fear.
Is there aught we hold in common
With the greedy parasite?
Who would lash us into serfdom
And would crush us with his might?
Is there anything left to us
But to organize and fight?
For the Union Makes Us Strong!
P.O. Box 6806 | Falls Church, VA 22040 | Phone: 703.237.2249 | Fax: 703.237.8389 | www.chej.org 23Songs Not Speeches – Lyrics to Live By
STEP BY STEP Where Vesicol has been before
(Labor Classic) They’ve brought harm to rich and poor
Like the big old toxic dump
Step by step, the longest march can be done, They call North Hollywood
Can be done Now they’ve got a fence that goes all around
Many stones can build an arch, singly none, singly But the toxic chemicals leak underground
none Get in the river and in the fish
And by union, what we will Wind up on your supper dish
Can be accomplished still Now you might think the problems gone away
Many drops to turn a mill, singly none But you better not eat those fish even today.
Singly none.
(Repeat Twice) CHORUS
Banned in the USA! Banned in the USA!
But Vesicol goes and sells it
To Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bolivia,
STOP MAKING IT Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Finland, French
Tune: “Do Re Mi” by Woody Guthrie West Indies, Israel, Ivory Coast, Indonesia,
Adapted by: Kenny Bruno Singapore, Thailand, Pakistan, Netherlands,
(Note: A loophole in FIFRA allows Vesicol, the Guatemala, Chile, Paraguay.
most notorious polluter in the Memphis region, Oh heptachlor is dangerous
to manufacture heptachlor to sell abroad even Hurts your liver and causes cancer
thought its use is banned in the U.S.) It’s wrong to sell it here
It ain’t right to send it there
On the Mississippi River in Memphis Town Stop making it, that’s the only answer.
There’s some pesticide production going down
Take a drive on Warford St.
Just beyond the tracks
There’s company called Vesicol
It’s not too big, not too small
Making very nasty things
Things like “heptachlor”
Now call on down to the EPA
Ask for “heptachlor” and here is what they’ll say.
CHORUS
Banned in the USA! Banned in the USA!
But Vesicol goes and sells it
To Thailand, Pakistan, Netherlands,
Guatemala, Chile, Paraguay
Oh heptachlor is dangerous
Hurts your liver and causes cancer
If it’s wrong to sell it here
It ain’t right to send it there
Stop making it, that’s the only answer.
24 Center for Health, Environment & Justice | Mentoring a Movement, Empowering People, Preventing HarmCHAPTER 1
Songs
STOP WASTE AT THE SOURCE God’s gifts and our greatest resource.
Tune: “Home, Home on the Range” CHORUS
by Brewster Higley ___________________________
(This is a song Waste Watchers and other
Tennessee groups sang on August 17, 1989 *CAP: Capacity Assurance Plans. A twenty-
at the state capitol when releasing the year plan which the EPA requires each state to
NTCF report.) submit outlining how the state will handle its
hazardous waste.
Please protect our home
So the land does not foam
With poisons of hazardous waste—
And seldom are found
Leaking deep in the ground SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT
Contaminants buried in haste.
REFRAIN:
CHORUS Swing, sweet chariot,
Stop waste at the source! Coming for to carry me home
We want a clean Tennessee. Swing low, sweet chariot
We’re ranked very low, Coming for to carry me home.
And still lower we’ll go,
If nothing is done, don’t you see? I looked over Jordan
And what did I see?
Please protect our air Coming for to carry me home
Don’t incinerate there— A band of angels coming after me
The emissions are killing us all. Coming for to carry me home.
The tests may be passed,
But enforcement is lax, REFRAIN
When later contaminant fall.
If you get there before I do,
CHORUS Coming for to carry me home
Tell all my friends
Good water we need I’m coming there, too
To drink and to feed Coming for to carry me home.
To plants and animals all.
The toxics are strong REFRAIN
And if left very long
Eat through a facility’s wall.
CHORUS
Oh please do not fail:
The Cap* must curtail
Generation of waste at the source.
We the people demand
Good air, water, and land—
P.O. Box 6806 | Falls Church, VA 22040 | Phone: 703.237.2249 | Fax: 703.237.8389 | www.chej.org 25Songs Not Speeches – Lyrics to Live By
TALKIN’ TRASH DUMP BLUES THE ATOMIC RIDDLE SONG
Adapted by: Lou Zeller Tune: “Riddle Song”
Adapted by: Nan Hoffman
Back in 1991
Trash dumps filled up, one by one I gave my love a cherry, that had no stone.
But someone had a bright idea I gave my love a chicken, that had no bone.
To build a great big landfill here. I gave my love a story, that had no end.
I gave my love a baby, with no crying?
REFRAIN: BFI
IOU How can there be a cherry that has no stone?
EPA How can there be a chicken that has no bone?
Waterloo How can there be a story that has no end?
How can there be a baby with no crying’?
Back then it was the height of fashion
To dig big holes and dump the trash in A cherry when it’s poisoned, it has no stone.
From towns and cities across the nation A chicken when its mutant, it has no bone.
And legislate contamination. The story of a “half-life”, it has no end.’
A baby when it’s still born has no crying.
They promised us that we’d get rich
By dumping trash in a plastic-lined ditch
But the rains came, and the story goes
That the water table rose and rose.
REFRAIN
Well, now it’s 2021, and
Thirty years have come and gone
The waste piled high, it ain’t too pretty
But they still bring trash from New York City.
The poisons that we buried there
Are leaking out, more each year
Our water’s bad and the county’s poor
But if it’s trash you want, no place has more.
REFRAIN
When BFI has gone away
The cleanup costs we’ll have to pay
The smell of that deal makes us gag
The taxpayer’s left holdin’ the bag.
(Spoken) Plasic liner…state of the art…subtitle D…
art of the state.
REFRAIN x 2 with everyone!
26 Center for Health, Environment & Justice | Mentoring a Movement, Empowering People, Preventing HarmCHAPTER 1
Songs
THE BEST OF ME THE DUMP SONG
By: Geneva France Burton (Lawrence County By: POWER, Ontario, Canada
Concerned Citizens)
This is a tale of Halton Hills
Verse 1: Children growing up in these rolling hills
They pollute our rivers Bruce Trail hikes and gardens to grow.
They destroy our streams Oh how the people did love it so.
They plan our futures
On bureaucrat dreams Now one day did loom a forbidding plan
We don’t have to like it A garbage dump would invade this land
It’s just the way it’s gonna be What will happen to our water, the people feared?
But they’re not gonna get Don’t you worry, the dump is engineered.
The best of me.
CHORUS
Verse2: Save our water now!
They put up their factories Our children need this land!
And tears down the trees Recycle now for the future.
They put poison Recycle now for the future.
In the air we breathe
They shut out the sun Well Ruth and Kevin and Francine and Ken
With smoke and debris Around the kitchen tables said we need more men
But they’re not gonna get So they rounded up the hills in the early hours
The best of me. Now we’ve got our hundreds, our name is
POWER.
Verse3:
So hold your head high CHORUS
And march to your own song
Don’t be afraid Well the people they talked and planned on the
To show’em you’re strong phone,
They don’t have to like it Gees by gosh we’ll save our homes,
But it’s the way it’s got to be We’ve got to organize and form our plans
And they’re not gonna get Hey everybody we’re going to make a stand.
The best of me. CHORUS
CHORUS: They met once a week in the Limehouse School,
Let’s all join hands now They sure didn’t want to look like a fool,
And work together Theyresearchedandplannedandraisedsomefunds,
We can make tomorrow Watch out Comcor, we’ll have you on the run.
So much better.
CHORUS
We can teach our children
What it means to be free The story has not ended; it’s just begun,
Because they’re not gonna get The group is growing daily, one by one.
No, they’re not gonna get the best of me. We’re going to win this fight you watch and see
A dump in our Hills there will never be.
CHORUS
P.O. Box 6806 | Falls Church, VA 22040 | Phone: 703.237.2249 | Fax: 703.237.8389 | www.chej.org 27You can also read
